TWERK HAS A MEMORY

ParPatricia Badin Publié le

Patricia Badin · 11 years of practice & TRANSMISSION Before you dance, you need to know where the dance comes from Twerk is an ancestral body language. It was not invented in a music video, nor on TikTok. It runs through Mapouka in Côte d’Ivoire, Sabar in Senegal, Jamaican Dancehall, and the Bounce of New…

Patricia Badin · 11 years of practice & TRANSMISSION

Before you dance, you need to know where the dance comes from

série · Déconstruire le twerk – article 1/4

  • Twerk did not begin with Miley Cyrus. It is part of a tradition centuries old, carried across oceans by peoples who danced to resist, to heal, to transmit.

    When I teach twerk after 11 years of practice, the very first thing I do, before the first movement, is ask this question: where does this dance come from? Because you cannot dance consciously without knowing what you carry.

    Patricia Badin
    Dance Teacher

Twerk is an ancestral body language. It was not invented in a music video, nor on TikTok. It runs through Mapouka in Côte d’Ivoire, Sabar in Senegal, Jamaican Dancehall, and the Bounce of New Orleans

— as I explained in The Africa Report.

01
AN ANCESTRAL MEMORY

HERITAGE

These dances share a common memory that of Afro-diasporic peoples dispersed across the world since the 16th century. In this forced dispersion, the body became a space of resistance. To dance was to refuse erasure.

These dances share a common memory — that of Afro-diasporic peoples dispersed across the world since the 16th century. In this forced dispersion, the body became a space of resistance. To dance was to refuse erasure.

  • Mapouka
    Sabar (Leumbeul)
    Makossa
    Kuduro
    Mutuashi
    Assiko
    Kuduro
    AFRICA
  • Dancehall
    Wukin’ Up
    Mapalé
    Punta
    Soca
    Kolé Mabouya
    Banda
    CARAIBBEAN
  • Bounce
    Twerking
    Reboleio
    Candombe
    Cumbia
    Mapalé
    Batuque
    AMERICAS
Question of the day
Did you know twerk’s origins?

Your answer helps me better understand what you need.

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